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Advice on life in general

Started by breese1, February 21, 2008, 11:18:29 AM

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breese1

First, let me say that I've been reading the forum for a couple of years.  I've come to respect the insight and knowledge of a lot people here.  Sure have benefitted from it.
That said, I need some advice or maybe just some words of wisdom.

I'm in my mid 30's and have been working hard all my life.  I bought a wooded parcel of 100 acres about 10 years ago and built a small house on it, did it all without a mortgage, all on my own.  Borrowed money eventually on that place to build a bigger house.  Just finished the second house and had the closing on the first place last week.  I'm now in a position where I don't owe any money to anyone. 

So here's where I need some advice.  I still own about 95 acres of woods, and my dad owns another 100.  I'd like to get away from my job and make a good portion of a living from the woods.  I've already got tractors, log splitter, saws etc.  Got a small maple operation of about 200 taps already that will help pay the taxes.  Love doing firewood.  Upstate NY, all hardwoods. 

Anbody got any ideas on making about 20k per year?  Thought about building some small cabins for city people, hunting leases, firewood.  I'm just sick of getting up everyday and having to drive to work for someone else.

Appreciate anyone who takes the time to read and comment.
Thanks.

ely

i for one would like to commend you on your achievements thus far in life. i would dare say i am a bit envious of you. i am 40 and not quite to your position yet. the one thing that i do like about my situation is the job i have is a job that pays well and i love doing it. if i were in your shape i would be equally happy without this job though.  sometimes less is more. some folks are not happy if they do not owe the world for everything they have.

my advice to you would be calm down and continue on with your present job in order to build a better nestegg to draw from after you do get so fed up you do go out on yourown. the way the economy is headed you may be better off in the long run to have the job you have now. 

imo if you already have a sawmill it should not be too tough to make the 20 k that you speak of each year. if the economy does hold out. as long as the money is flowing you should be able to do that much in firewood.

hey you asked! ;D

Haytrader

Welcome to the FF breeze.

I too would like to commend you on your achievments. As we say around here........you done good.
You didn't mention a family. Are you married or do you have children? If you don't have a family and later aquire one, that will change your world dramatically.
If you are sick of the job you have now, maybe you should look for another job and have some benifits to rely on. If you are self employed, you have to cover all the bases with what you can generate.
You can't live to large on $20,000.

Like ely said..........you asked.
Haytrader

DanG

Welcome Breese1, and congrats on having the gumption to put yourself where you are! 8) 8)

My idea is that you should divert the energy you've been putting into your housing situation to starting a small, part-time business.  If it is successful, it will outgrow the time you can put into it, so you then quit the day job and go full time.  Actually, several seasonal endeavors might be best for you.  For instance, you could sell firewood, do the sugar thing, and make the outbuildings, doing each in the appropriate season.  A small sawmill and a kiln would also complement those operations, considering you have access to plenty of wood.  I do reccomend building a modest customer base in each area before giving up the job, though.  I've known a few people who built their own businesses this way.  Their signal to quit the day job was always, "Whenever it costs me money to come to work." ;)  Almost all of them had wives who were employed, with benefits.
"I don't feel like an old man.  I feel like a young man who has something wrong with him."  Dick Cavett
"Beat not thy sword into a plowshare, rather beat the sword of thine enemy into a plowshare."

Bro. Noble

I might add acouple of ideas to the excellent advice you've already recieved.

Get a good textbook on forest management and/or get a forester to go over your timber with you.  You need to know what to remove so that your timber improves and increases in quality and growth.  You need some idea of what you can take out in a given period of time if you are going to rely on your own timber.  Secondary processing would help stretch your supply.  Doing custom sawing would do this too.

My son and I have been harvesting our own timber for several years on a part time basis.  The way we operate now has changed quite a bit from when we first started------you will have to get your feet wet and see what works for you and what you do well and adapt to your markets and assets.

As others said,  I'd go slow in giving up an outside job unless you have an agreable wife that has one ;)
milking and logging and sawing and milking

rebocardo

What state and general area are your woods?

thecfarm

Sounds like you gave some things alot of thought.I would think about insurance.What happens if you break a leg or arm.Or get real sick and need hospital care.It can get scary real quick.Sounds like you could make a go of it.Firewood is always a good product to get into too.People need to keep warm.
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

Corley5

The wife's job with the bennies is what keeps me working for us instead of someone else  ;) 8) 8)  Don't quit the day job until you're established in your other operations and use money from the day job to make the other ventures self supporting and then profitable.  Twenty grand a year is very little.  You also want to be putting $$$$$$ away for retirement
Burnt Gunpowder is the Smell Of Freedom

woodmills1

lets see................I sold firewood while teaching then bought land.................then more firewood......then sawmill.................then logtrailer ................whoops retired early.  In fairness I did keep the regular job as long as I could, specially to vester health insurance.  That could eat up lots of the 20 grand on its own.  so   sell some wood stay at work and get the small business going.
James Mills,Lovely wife,collect old tools,vacuuming fool,36 bdft/hr,oak paper cutter,ebonic yooper rapper nauga seller, Blue Ox? its not fast, 2 cat family, LT70,edger, 375 bd ft/hr, we like Bob,free heat,no oil 12 years,big splitter, baked stuffed lobster, still cuttin the logs dere IAM

Handy Andy

  Breeze, you kind of remind me of me.  My dad was a farmer, and I went to college and worked in town. Dad talked me into helping him part time with the farm, and when he wanted to retire, he wanted me to take it over.  He had always made a living farming, and said if you take care of the farm, it'll take care of you.  So I took a year off, built a new house with cash that I'd saved, and farmed.  After a year, I was flat broke, and had to go back to town to work. But I kept farming, had my kids to help, and kept it going till I was 50.  Then I gave up my work in town.  Still have the farm and now I can afford to fool with wood too.  Jim
My name's Jim, I like wood.

crtreedude

Breese,

If you make flooring, molding, etc. out of your own wood - that will probably get you there. You have the resource, if you process it yourself and sell to the client directly, you can have a very nice nitch market while you continually improve your forest for future value.

Look at the price of wood flooring in a big box store - it is a lot better than you would get for your wood if you were to sell it.

This will require investment in something to making molding, etc. A kiln is a requirement too. Slow and steady wins the race - work enough to be able to buy these things without loans so that the debt isn't killing you.

This requires wearing more than one hat - but you seem to have a pretty good head so you should be able to do it.
So, how did I end up here anyway?

Brad_S.

Breese 1,
You didn't say where in upstate you are, but it doesn't matter much as all of upstate NY is in a funk right now. I second the advice of keeping your day job and growing the business on the side.
"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." J. Lennon

Deadwood

I kind of did what you did too, and am in a similar position money wise. I like my job (machinist) but wouldn't mind striking out on my own. The problem is I did what you proposed, but did so with 402 acres and not 95 when I was in my early twenties. 100 acres of that was crop ground (leased) and the other 300 was woodlot. My independence lasted for 2 years before I realized there is way too much feast and famon in the logging industry.

Even with 300 acres, just paying the taxes and keeping up with the equipment was too much. The wife worked and had good health insurance, but slowly to co-pays and the ever needed cash to buy chainsaw chains and whatnot proved to be too much. You will be surprised how much life costs even when you're living cheap.

Now I am 33 found a great job where I machine out the most beautiful boat parts and take pride in that. Better yet is that I work 4 day work weeks giving me time to"play" on the weekends. Since I still maintain my logging business, I have been cutting a lot of firewood this winter and really started getting back into logging. No more illusions of headed out on my own though. This past week I have been sick, so I took two days off from work. Its a great feeling to know that I got paid for those sick days, and yet will still be able to cut wood this weekend and make a little extra money. Not having to live pay check to paycheck is a GREAT FEELING.

My suggestion is to maybe seek out better employment. Find something that can give you the time off you need and still contribute to your logging adventures. In my case, I can do any repairs I need via steel, fabricating equipment and machine tooling on the weekends. Sure I wish I did not have to head in to work on Monday mornings, but being able to head into the woods on Friday, or head into the shop to machine out pins or make logging grapples for my tractor has its benefits too.

One other word of caution, and I mean not disrespect for your woodlot. 95 acres is not a lot of wood. Even if you have a well managed forest, there are areas that are not productive,or don't grow high grade logs or forest products. That severely limits your overall harvestable acreage. You cannot count on your dad's property either. My dad has a lot of land too, but its HIS land. He ultimately controls what occurs on there,and even if he is amicable to harvesting now, it may not remain like that. He has plans for his property too, and you may not be in that plan. You also may not always remain as friends. Family is like that unfortunately so don't have your bread and butter literally rest in some one else's hands. I've been burned by that more than once.

For that being said...I wish you all the best in life. Its nice to see that others of my generation have worked hard and made something of themselves by hard work and intelligent decisions early on in life.


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